It appears to be lights out for United Sleep Products.

The Denver-based mattress and futon manufacturer earlier this month closed its 412 Oak St. factory, idling 130 workers, and its other plant in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Tom Smith, a United Sleep employee who answered the phone Monday afternoon at the Denver factory, confirmed the plant was shut down and only skeleton crews have been working.

"United Sleep is closing their doors," Smith said.

Lisa Kaufman, named CEO of United Sleep earlier this year, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The shutdowns, first reported by trade publication Furniture Today, follow the company's February statement that it was experiencing "a temporary cash flow imbalance." Employees learned of the closings May 9 when they reported to work, only to be told they had been permanently laid off "due to a persistent decline" in orders, said Furniture Today.

"The word we got was, it wasn't a reorganization of any kind. It was a closure," said Denver Borough manager Mike Hession.

Hession said borough tax records show the plant employed 130 people, down from 170 workers in 2006. That made United Sleep the borough's third-largest employer, trailing only Cocalico School District (330 employees) and Henry Schein Inc. (360), although the majority of Schein's property is in adjoining East Cocalico Township.

United Sleep Products positioned itself as a maker of bedding that was comparable in quality to brand-name products, but priced much lower. It also made Simmons brand futons. Established in 1956 as Kinder Furniture & Bedding, United Sleep was acquired in January 2006 by Northlight Capital, a Chicago-based investment firm, for an undisclosed price.

At that time United Sleep was described as a firm with annual sales of $55 million, generated across the Northeast and Midwest, and 300 employees at three factories.

The arrival of Northlight Capital was portrayed as a catalyst for significant future growth, which would be accomplished by making the firm into a national player with new products.

"We are repositioning the company. ...This isn't your grandfather's United Sleep," an executive said at the time. In April 2006, the company unveiled a new flagship line of bedding called Nature's Dreams. In October, United Sleep introduced an array of pillows under the Nature's Dreams brand.

But last fall, United Sleep sold its nine-year-old futon plant in the Conestoga Valley Industrial Park, which the company had opened to replace a plant in Albany, N.Y.

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